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what do you believe?

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Shakesthecoffecan:
1) is there an absolute truth?
    I think there is until some situation arrises that creates a gray area that the absolute truth does not cover.

2) is there  right and wrong?  (if so, what determines that?)

   Yes, but it can be complicated. You can do something that is wrong, but if it is for a greater good then that can justify it.

3) is there heaven and hell? (some of you have already answered this)

   There is, but I think it is a state of mind, I think if it exists in the hereafter, it can exist here too. Some of us live in a personal hell because we are unable to escape circumstances.

4) if there is a heaven , does there have to be a hell?
   Not necessarily. I tend to see the hereafter as one thing, there is a human need to seperate good and evil, but I think they need each other for context sake.

5) if there is a god, does there also have to be a devil?

   I think it comes from a need people have to put a face on god or the devil, I tend to think of good and evil as concepts but if it helps someone understand by making them into persoanlities I can relate to that.

6) can there be more than one god?....(if you believe in god/gods at all)

   God I hope not. Like Ennis said, "Ones enough".

Soluki:
1) is there an absolute truth?  No there cannot be.  It is not logical.  One learns the truth through series of events and experiences, and since those, by their nature are fluid, so isn't truth.

2) is there  right and wrong?  (if so, what determines that?)  As we perceive it, yes.  But right or wrong are as saying that soemthing is good or bad.  We are exaggerating the parts of a whole that we perceive as either good or bad, and assigning that quality to the whole.  People, things and events are neither good or bad.  They are empty.  It is our perceptions of parts that cast them as good ro bad, beautiful or ugly, etc.

3) is there heaven and hell? (some of you have already answered this)  I am Buddhist so this question is relative to where one is their cyclic existence

4) if there is a heaven , does there have to be a hell?  Since all things are dependant arisings that consist of many things, yes.  If there is a "heaven", there must be a "hell"

5) if there is a god, does there also have to be a devil?  See above

6) can there be more than one god?....(if you believe in god/gods at all)  The wise man serves many Gods but his soul follows only one.  That is your choice.

brokeplex:

--- Quote from: forsythia12 on February 07, 2008, 03:59:38 am ---again, i want to thank you all for your honesty.  like i've said before, i love hearing what people think about the whole god issue.  i was a youth pastor for the christian faith, non-denominational...and i've spent years listening to opinions of non-believers, athiests, agnostics, etc.....and i still find it interesting. 
here's another set of questions for you all, and again, this is not at all in any means to try and push anything, this is just a questionaire:

1) is there an absolute truth? yes, and that truth shall set you free

2) is there  right and wrong?  (if so, what determines that?) yes, the still voice in your soul tells you so

3) is there heaven and hell? (some of you have already answered this) no

4) if there is a heaven , does there have to be a hell? I don't know

5) if there is a god, does there also have to be a devil? no

6) can there be more than one god?....(if you believe in god/gods at all) yes, the creator in his/her infinite manifestations

again, please know, this is open for personal opinions, and i'm not intending on bantering, or quoting , or whatever....i'm just curious.
if you don't want to answer, please still write on this thread anyways, as understanding where everyone is at 'spiritually' is very insightfull.
thanks
forsythia

"pentecost...i don't know what the pentecost is. my mother never explained it to me.  i guess the world ends and guys like me and you march off into hell"



--- End quote ---

I was raised Southern Baptist and never have left the church. But, I don't cotton to the interpretation of the scriptures by the Southern Baptist Convention.
I go to church every now and then, when DL drags me there. I like to sing the hymns, but the sermons are a snoozefest. It is funny how we eventually resemble our parents, when I was younger it was my mother who dragged my dad to church Sundays. Now it is DL who occasionally drags me to church.

ZK:
I was brought up a Roman Catholic and attended a Catholic Primary School.
For a long time now I have not been able to decided where I belong.

I certainly try and live my life to be honest and love thy neighbour. I also believe in religous tolerance, to me whether you are Christian or other religions then we are all on the same path, which path we take may be something different but the fundamental beliefs seem to be same.

I am a fervent believer in "what goes around comes around". I also like to think that I practice what I preach, rather than just preach

There are just some basics beliefs/foundations of Catholicism (at least) that I have trouble coming to terms with. So yes believe in God, but am I a Catholic, no. However when recently one of our family friends died suddenly, I found myself reverting back to the Catholic doctrine/prayers without thinking ..."may perpetual light shine upon him". So may be its a true what they say here, "once a Catholic always a Catholic".

delalluvia:
Neo-pagan here.

Left the Christian religion behind, oh, about 11 years ago now.  Never been happier.

No, I didn't have a "crisis of faith", no I wasn't "angry at god".  I just sat down one day and decided to find out if I believed because I believed it, or because it was what I was taught and brought up with.

So I started researching my faith.  I decided that it would be best if I went directly to Jesus' own words, after all, everyone else/church leaders, etc., probably put their own spin on things. 

For those of you who believe in signs, when I picked up the Bible to start to read the gospels, so I'd know Jesus' own words, the sentence that leaped out at me was

"There is no divorce."

Now, for those who know me here, I'm a feminist of the old school.  I believe that women being able to divorce is one of the powers women wrested from men to give them opportunity to be something other than chattel in society.  Women have the power and the strength now to divorce unsuitable/abusive spouses.

There was no way I thought that it was right that there was no divorce and that Jesus supported the Hebrew bible rules that if one did divorce, one was committing adultery.  In a Christian world, one was bound for hell for adultery if you were not sorry, and I knew the reasons my mother got divorced 3 times and my sister 1.  There was no way they were ever going to be "sorry" they got divorced.  And so they were going to hell?  Women were all going to hell for divorcing abusive/bad husbands?

But there it was.  In two books of the gospels.  I then started researching, maybe Jesus didn't really mean divorce.  Maybe the translation was wrong...but nope.  The translation was correct. 

That all by itself started the turn.

The more research I did into Christian religion, the more I realized that the main strength of Christianity - that it was really true and not "made up" like everyone else's religion - was false.  Christianity was even more a make-believe hodge-podge of stories and beliefs cobbled together from the pagan religions and philosophies around at the time.  There was little to no proof that the stories of the bible were any more true than the Odyssey or Illiad.

But I was still a spiritual person, not a big believer in dogma, so if Christianity were no more true than any other religion, then there was no great fear or terror in leaving it for a religion that had no dogma, a religion where your relationship with the gods was personal and had little to do with how you lived your life - morality/ethics having nothing to do with religion.

So I became a neo-pagan.  It had no dogma and in the particular path I follow, the gods are elemental forces.  An idea that appeals to me with my science background.  And I've found a great peace and happiness with it.  Unlike my former Christian belief which bored me to tears and made me greatly unhappy with myself most of the time because I could never live up to perfect standards of behavior and was constantly having to beg forgiveness and grovel and feel bad about myself...gah, I don't know how people stand it.

But being from a science background, I am also greatly atheist/agnostic friendly.  I understand that my faith in the gods is completely irrational, not logical and unprovable.  But since my religion doesn't foist itself on anyone, having to prove itself as 'true' is never an issue.  It's a personal thing.

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